share it

Benjamin Garre is pictured after signing his first contract with English club Manchester City. | twitter.com/benjagarre

Manchester City have avoided a transfer ban after being cleared of any wrongdoing over their signing of youngster Benjamin Garré from Vélez Sarsfield.

The Premier League champions could have been banned from signing players in the next two transfer windows had they been found guilty of breaching international transfer regulations when they signed Garré in 2016.

Vélez alleged City acted unethically in approaching Garré when he was still 15, then broke transfer regulations by signing him when he turned 16.

The Argentine club had their initial complaint rejected, but took their case to the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

According to FIFA regulations, players under the age of 18 can only be signed when both teams are in the European Union. After a significant delay, a ruling has now been delivered that backs City's claim that Garré's Italian passport entitled him to make the move when he turned 16, supporting supports FIFA's original decision.

"The appeal filed on 12 December, 2016, by Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield against the decision issued on 24 August, 2016, by the single judge of the sub-committee of the FIFA players' status committee (the challenged decision) is dismissed and, accordingly, the challenged decision is confirmed," a CAS statement said.

Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid have all been subjected to transfer bans for breaching rules around the signing of international players under the age of 18 in recent years.

In May 2017, the Premier League fined City £300,000 (US$429,000) and banned the club from signing academy players for two years after they were found to have approached the family of two young players who were registered with other clubs.

But City manager Pep Guardiola is now free to continue his transfer plans as he looks to strengthen his squad once the transfer window reopens at the end of the season.

City were crowned English champions on Sunday and Guardiola, hoping to challenge for the Champions League as well as defending the title next term, is reported to have been promised around £200 million to invest in new players. So far, he has spent more than half a billion euros on players since taking control of the Sky Blues in 2016.

Meanwhile, Garré, now 17, is yet to make his City debut and the forward has been playing for their under-23 team, scoring his first goal against Rotherham last August. He has already represented Argentina at Under-15 and Under-17 level and recently trained with the senior squad during training sessions back in November.

Garré comes from a footballing background. His grandfather, Oscar Garré, was a member of the country's 1986 World Cup winning squad and also went to two Copa América tournaments with the Albiceleste in the decade.